@article {KNZ001479, title = {Ecological mechanisms underlying arthropod species diversity in grasslands}, journal = {Annual Review of Entomology}, volume = {58}, year = {2013}, pages = {19 -36}, abstract = {

Arthropods are an important component of grassland systems, contributing significantly to biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function. Climate, fire, and grazing by large herbivores are important drivers in grasslands worldwide. Arthropod responses to these drivers are highly variable and clear patterns are difficult to find, but responses are largely indirect with respect to changes in resources, species interactions, habitat structure, and habitat heterogeneity resulting from interactions among fire, grazing, and climate. Here, we review these ecological mechanisms influencing grassland arthropod diversity. We summarize hypotheses describing species diversity at local and regional scales and then discuss specific factors that may affect arthropod diversity in grassland systems. These factors include direct and indirect effects of grazing, fire, and climate, species interactions, above- and belowground interactions, and landscape-level effects.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153540}, url = {https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153540}, author = {Anthony Joern and Laws, A.} } @article {KNZ001619, title = {Invertebrates, ecosystem services and climate change}, journal = {Biological Reviews}, volume = {88}, year = {2013}, pages = {327 -348}, abstract = {


}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ, Biodiversity, bioindicator species, Climate change, ecosystem engineers, ecosystem services, insects, invertebrates, sustainability}, doi = {10.1111/brv.12002}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/brv.12002}, author = {Prather, C.M. and Pelini, S. and Laws, A. and Rivest, E. and Woltz, M. and Bloch, C.P. and Del Toro, I. and Ho, Chuan-Kai. and Kominoski, J. and Newbold, T.A.S. and Parsons, S. and Anthony Joern} } @article {KNZ001620, title = {Predator-prey interactions in a grassland food chain vary with temperature and food quality}, journal = {Oikos}, volume = {122}, year = {2012}, pages = {977 -986}, abstract = {

Because species interactions are often context-dependent, abiotic factors such as temperature and biotic factors such as food quality may alter species interactions with potential consequences to ecosystem structure and function. For example, altered predator\–prey interactions may influence the dynamics of trophic cascades, affecting net primary production. In a three-year field experiment, we manipulated a plant\–grasshopper\–spider food chain in mesic tallgrass prairie to investigate the effects of temperature and food quality on grasshopper performance, and to understand the direct and indirect tritrophic interactions that contribute to trophic cascades. Because spiders are active at cooler temperatures than grasshoppers in our system, we hypothesized that predator effects would be strongest in cooled treatments, and weakest in warmed treatments. Grasshopper spider interactions were highly context-dependent and varied significantly with food quality, temperature treatment and year. Spiders most often reduced grasshopper survival in the cooled and ambient temperature treatments, but had little to no effect on grasshopper survival in the warmed treatments, as hypothesized. In some years, plants compensated for grasshopper herbivory and trophic cascades were not observed despite significant effects of predators on grasshopper survival. However, in the year they were observed, trophic cascades only occurred in cooled treatments where predator effects on grasshoppers were strongest. Predicting ecosystem responses to climate change will require an understanding of how temperature influences species interactions. Our results demonstrate that changes in daily temperature regimes can alter predator\–prey interactions among arthropods with consequences for ecosystem processes such as primary production and the relative importance of top\–down and bottom\–up processes.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20419.x}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20419.x}, author = {Laws, A. and Anthony Joern} } @article {KNZ001451, title = {Variable effects of dipteran parasitoids and management treatment on grasshopper fecundity in a tallgrass prairie}, journal = {Bulletin of Entomological Research}, volume = {102}, year = {2012}, pages = {123 -130}, abstract = {

Grasshoppers host a number of parasitoids, but little is known about their impact on grasshopper life history attributes or how those impacts may vary with land use. Here, we report on a three-year survey of nine grasshopper species in a tallgrass prairie managed with fire and bison grazing treatments. We measured parasitoid prevalence and the impact of parasitoid infection on grasshopper fecundity to determine if grasshopper-parasitoid interactions varied with management treatment. Adult female grasshoppers were collected every three weeks from eight watersheds managed with different prescribed burning and grazing treatments. Grasshopper fecundity with and without parasitoids was estimated through dissections of reproductive tracts. Dipteran parasitoids from two families (Nemestrinidae and Tachinidae) were observed infecting grasshoppers. We found significant effects of grazing treatment, but not burn interval, on grasshopper-parasitoid interactions. Parasitoids were three times more abundant in watersheds with bison grazing than in ungrazed watersheds, and the relative abundance of nemestrinid and tachinid flies varied with grazing treatment. Parasitoid prevalence varied among grasshopper species from \<0.01\% infected (Mermiria bivittata) to 17\% infected (Hypochlora alba). Parasitoid infection reduced individual grasshopper fecundity, with stronger effects on current reproduction than on past reproduction. Furthermore, current fecundity in parasitized grasshoppers was lower in grazed watersheds compared to ungrazed watersheds. Nemestrinid parasitoids generally had stronger impacts on grasshopper fecundity than tachinid parasitoids, the effects of which were more variable.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ, grassland, Grazing, host-parasitoid interactions, Konza Prairie Biological Station, Orthoptera, reproduction}, doi = { http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007485311000472}, url = {https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-entomological-research/article/variable-effects-of-dipteran-parasitoids-and-management-treatment-on-grasshopper-fecundity-in-a-tallgrass-prairie/EB1AD93DB7D975E1009489797D88DF2E}, author = {Laws, A. and Anthony Joern} } @article {KNZ001359, title = {Grasshopper fecundity responses to grazing and fire in a tallgrass prairie}, journal = {Environmental Entomology}, volume = {40}, year = {2011}, pages = {979 -988}, abstract = {

Grasshopper abundance and diversity vary with management practices such as fire and grazing. Understanding how grasshopper life history traits such as fecundity respond to management practices is key to predicting grasshopper population dynamics in heterogeneous environments. Landscape-level experimental fire and bison grazing treatments at the Konza Prairie Biological Station (Manhattan, KS) provide an opportunity to examine how management affects grasshopper fecundity. Here we report on grasshopper fecundity for nine common species at Konza Prairie. From 2007 to 2009, adult female grasshoppers were collected every 3 wk from eight watersheds that varied in fire and grazing treatments. Fecundity was measured by examining female reproductive tracts, which contain a record of past and current reproductive activity. Body size was a poor predictor of fecundity for all species. Despite large differences in vegetation structure and composition with management regime (grazing and fire interval), we observed little effect of management on grasshopper fecundity. Habitat characteristics (grasshopper density, vegetation biomass, and vegetation quality; measured in 2008 and 2009) were better predictors of past fecundity than current fecundity, with species-specific responses. Fecundity increased throughout the summer, indicating that grasshoppers were able to acquire sufficient nutritional resources for egg production in the early fall when vegetation quality is generally low. Because fecundity did not vary across management treatments, population stage structure may be more important for determining population level reproduction than management regime at Konza Prairie.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ, Konza Prairie Biological Station, life-history, management, Orthoptera, reproduction}, doi = {10.1603/EN10146}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/ee/article-abstract/40/5/979/412531?redirectedFrom=fulltext}, author = {Laws, A. and Anthony Joern} }